Traveling can be tricky for me if the region or hotel doesn’t serve sweet-iced tea. Headaches ensue, and I find I am more disagreeable. Because I am not a bubbly happy gal at my best, I can in a withdrawal state present a problem for others around me.

Let’s break it down. Sugar and I go way back. I know sugar has a bad name, and nutritionist cringe.

I was raised on sweet-iced tea instead of milk with meals. Bless mom’s soul. She loved to bake, and a cake or pie was always on the countertop near the breakfast bar dad fashioned from scrap lumber. She and daddy would talk and eat dessert at midnight after we, their wayward children, finally went to bed.

I digress.

I compromised how I make my tea a few years ago with boiling raw sugar and guava, a natural sweetener, in the tea water, and I added real lemon slices to cut the acid. (By the way, I have a special saucepan for this process.)

The bottom line: most foods don’t taste the same without my tea. For example, an egg salad sandwich or a BLT lacks the endorphin kick without tea and potato chips.

I am addicted. I am ok with it. It could be whiskey I crave. Tea comforts me like petting a dog.

I control my environment since I retired from law enforcement. I allow myself quiet every day. Sometimes, I nap, but the joy of simple food with my beverage of choice, and a peaceful mind can’t be beat.